Prof.Overman
Fall 2015
Progression II: Rhetorical Analysis
Seeing and Hearing Texts
In Progression I, we explored the ways in which our literacy is influenced by family, culture, and
education. We also discussed how varying visions and definitions of literacy can involve both harmony
and conflict. In Progression II, we’ll continue to explore connections between language and identity as
we examine how social and cultural factors influence communicative acts.
This progression’s essay requirement asks you to create an idea of your own with the aid of a visual
object, an image of experience, and a written text. In the essay itself you will analyze the genre of the
graphic memoir as you develop your idea in light of these questions:
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o
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What are the larger implications of your idea?
What do the various pieces of evidence you have collected tell us about your idea?
Why should a general reader care about your idea?
For Essay II (Rhetorical Analysis), you should explore these questions to help deepen your own – and
your reader’s – understanding of diverse literacies, rhetorics and modes of expression.
EXERCISE 2.1:
The “Word-Picture”
In this next writing sequence, you will extend the active reading process to a different kind of text – one
which is either visual or aural.
Task: Create a word-picture of a visual or aural text so that readers can see the object through your
words. First, select a text that interests you or triggers a strong response within you (your text can be in
the form of any medium: website, television show, magazine cover, advertisement, song, etc.). Describe
only what you perceive so that others who do not have access to the text can see it too; that is, do not
reveal names and historical dates.
Requirements: Try to keep your word-picture as short as possible (100 words) without sacrificing
precision.
Due: review weekly schedule
EXERCISE 2.2:
The “Discourse Community” Ethnography
Your second exercise asks that you produce ethnography to explore how discourse communities
influence language. Ethnography is a genre of writing that uses fieldwork to provide a descriptive study
of human societies. For this exercise, you’ll gather your own data and analyze it in the context of Swales’
“The Concept of Discourse Communities.” Swales outlines the characteristics of a discourse community
as having:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
common goals
participatory mechanisms
communication exchange
community specific genres
specialized terminology
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f.
generalized expertise
Task: Write an ethnography of a discourse community of your choice based on personal observation,
investigation, and analysis.
1. Observe
a. Try to be objective as possible, recording their activities, language, and texts
produced. Set up your methods of study and data collection: when and where you
observed, observation notes, interviews, where you did your research, etc.
2. Analyze
a. What are the characteristics of your group according to Swales’ six criteria? What
particularly interesting features did you observe?
b. What are their mechanisms for communication, genres, and specialized languages? Is
there a balance between experts and novices?
c. Based on your results, what are the implications of your observations?
Requirements: Your ethnography should be no more than three double-spaced pages (950 words). The
first part of your ethnography will be observation and the second half will be analysis. Follow MLA
documentation for the analysis section and include a “Works Cited” list of texts.
Due: review weekly schedule
EXERCISE 2.3:
The “Rhetorical Situation” Scene
Your third exercise in this progression is to collaboratively write and perform a scene involving elements
of the rhetorical situation. As we learned in Progression I, the rhetorical situation is the context within
which writing or other communication takes place. Whenever we write, whether it's an email to a friend
or a toast for a wedding, an English essay or a résumé, we face some kind of rhetorical situation. We have
a PURPOSE, a certain AUDIENCE, a particular STANCE, a GENRE, and a MEDIUM to consider.
Task: In groups, compose a scene which illustrates the above elements of the rhetorical situation.
Requirements: Your group’s scene should be 5-7 minutes. Submit a brief outline of your scene (one per
group) and be prepared to perform your scene in class on the due date.
Due: review weekly schedule
ESSAY II:
Rhetorical Analysis
GB Tran’s VIETNAMERICA is a story told simultaneously with images and text; each of these aspects of
the work is necessary for its comprehension. For Essay II, you’ll interpret a small section of Tran’s
graphic memoir and analyze it through a rhetorical lens.
Task: In a rhetorical analysis we examine how authors attempt to persuade their audiences by looking at
the various components that make up the art of persuasion. In GB Tran’s VIETNAMERICA, choose a twopage spread that you find particularly striking and write a rhetorical analysis where you explore the
message or meaning of the text through the rhetorical strategies the author of the text uses.
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Requirements: Your rhetorical analysis essay should be five double-spaced pages (@1,500 words)
and calls for MLA documentation; you must include a “Works Cited” list at the end of your essay.
When you quote key phrases or visuals from your text, provide parenthetical documentation (page
number and/or frame).
Due: review weekly schedule (two drafts)
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